50 Percocet pills go missing from New Bedford police headquarters

Police Chief David Provencher said his department is investigating how several dozen Percocet pills stored in a secure locker in police headquarters disappeared.

NATALIE SHERMAN

NEW BEDFORD — Police Chief David Provencher said his department is investigating how several dozen Percocet pills stored in a secure locker in police headquarters disappeared.

The pills, which numbered about 50, were discovered missing after their owner was released from Ash Street Jail on bail and returned to the police department this weekend to pick them up, Provencher said.

The chief would not identify the man or why and when he was arrested. The arrest was unrelated to the pills, he said.

“It was a legitimate prescription,” Provencher said. “One has nothing to do with the other.”

The department typically stores property belonging to detainees in a locker in the Rockdale Avenue booking area, Provencher said. That property includes prescriptions, weapons and other items that are not accepted at jails or the house of correction.

Only police officers have access to the locker, he said.

Provencher said he does not believe the pills were given mistakenly to another person reclaiming their property.

“I don't consider that it was given out to someone else by mistake as a possibility,” he said, adding that he is not aware of any similar incidents.

He declined to comment further on the investigation, except to say that it is in its “early stages.”

Police have provided the man with a note to explain how the pills went missing so that he can fill his prescription, Provencher said. He said he did not know whether police would compensate the man for the loss.

“There are a number of steps and precautions that we take to protect both the integrity of the department, the officers and the property of the public,” he said. “It's very important to us the reputation we have in the community. We take that very seriously.”